When she left the room, I felt all the pain I had pushed down and locked away, claw its way out.
It felt as if my legs had been hexed, collapsing under me, sobs broke out of my chest as I felt hottears begin toslide down my face.
I felt as Tom caught me just before I fell completely to the ground, sobs gathered in my chest as I felt all the tears slip out.
"I'm sorry. I'm so so— s-s-sorry, Tom. I—I did the same thing to you that they did to us. I left and hid our babies from you and ran away. I am nothing but a hypocritical, lying, coward." I sobbed into his chest.
"No. Don't—don't do this to yourself, Sophie. You did what you thought was best at the time. Sure, you might've gone a bit bonkers on your part—" He softly said as I looked up to glare at him.
Causing him to back track.
"—but after what we had going on at the time, let's just say I understand why you did it. You didn't fake your own death and give away our children and that's more thanthey can say on their part. So, stop this. I know how hurt you are, by all of this. I am too, but we can't change anything that's happened. You said so yourself, all we can do is...?" He softly spoke, putting his fingers under my chin and tilting my head up to look at him in the eye.
"Make a better future for ourselves and our children." I finished, sniffling, as he let go of my chin.
"Exactly. Now, we may be hurt, but we need time. Eventually, we'll all be alright, looking back at this moment, maybe even laughing about it." He promised, kissing the top of my head.
We both smiled at each other before we leaned in to kiss. However, before our lips met we heard shouting coming from the first floor.
Tom gave me a knowing look, before sighing and shaking his head.
"I'm guessing that the rest of your family has arrived and from the looks of it, they've all reacted the same way you did..." Tom said amused as we listened to the yelling begin to escalate. "Go. I'll stay up here with Tommy and Mia." Tom whispered.
"Tommy. I thought you hated that name?" I asked teasingly, raising an eyebrow at him.
"I do, but if it makes you happy, then who am I to deny you ofthat little bit of happiness? Especially at this moment." He replied as he slipped out a book from a bag I hadn't seen before.
When I made my way down the stairs, Grisha and Billy were standing there arguing with Lucy and John Riel.
Seamus stood with Myrtle behind them holding their one-year-old son, Shane, shaking his head in disbelief.
"How could you lie to us? Look I understand why you thought you needed to hide from the world but your ownfamily and blood? You're pathetic..." Grisha ground out, her eyes tearing up. "Anyways, there is a reason why I am here." She added, looking away.
"Aunt Grish? What's going on?" I asked before I saw a flicker of what she was about to say.
It was dreadful news.
"Nikolai attacked. He—he killed ou-ou-our parents. The house. Everything is gone. They were dead before I got there, I landed near the back of the house. I was lucky Seamus got to me first." She explained as tears ran down her face.
"Nana and Poppa are gone?" I asked heartbrokenly. "A-are you sure?" I whispered, stepped closer to them.
"No! You're lying!" Lucy cried, "You're lying!" She screamed, turning to brush her face into John's chest.
"Will you stop being so damn dramatic, Luc? Goodness, I'd forgotten how dramatic you can be!" Seamus said, rolling his eyes at her.
"I'm so sorry. I-I thought what we were doing would help." She muttered, her voice cracking.
I shook my head at her, before hugging Grisha and Seamus heartbroken.
"Mommy? Why are you crying?" The little girl asked as she pulled on Lucy's dress.
"Pumpkin, mommy isn't feeling toogood right now," John whispered, pulling the little girl in his arms.
I heard Seamus scoff before muttering disbelievingly, "Un-fucking-believable!" Shaking his head at the scene before us.
"We are allowed to grieve, they were my parents, after all." Lucy said, frowning.
"Right, so you leave Sophia in an orphanage and you go and have another child, while she goes through all the bullshit she went through? How is that alright with you? How in Merlin does that make sense to you? Don't answer. I don't want to know. If I'm being honest with you, we were all better off thinking you two were dead. You two should have stayed dead." Seamus spat, angrily.
Both of them flinched in response and turned to look at me.
I looked away, unable to meet their pained gazes.
"I warned you that they weren't going to react any better than I did... and they see the future too... try lying to them," I muttered, inclining my head in the direction of my aunt and uncle.
"Anna?" The raven-haired woman said, walking towards me.
"May I have a word with you, in private?" She asked, motioning to the back door.
I stood back and watched her for a second before I nodded in response, following her out the back door.
I lead her to the same gazebo in the backyard, before I at down on the swing and waited for her to begin talking.
She sat there, watching the starlit sky, almost mesmerized.
"You know the truth about Tom and Leilah's father." She said, her eyes never leaving the sky.
"I do," I replied looking up at the third window to see Tom watching us, carefully.
"Why hide it? Why trick everyone into thinkinghe's a muggle? When in reality he's just a squib?" I asked, confused.
"Because the magic in their family died out long ago. No one seems to remember that. When I asked him why he hid that. He told me that he can do basic magic, he began taunting me, of how I spoke and how I looked. To sayI was heartbroken would be putting it lightly, I was completely distraught. I didn't give him Amortentia,we simply became friends, or at least I thought we did. He—he abused me one night afterhe came back from drinking with his buddies. I was practically catatonic after that happened, thought of committing suicide but I just couldn't go through withit when I foundout I was pregnant.Your mother gave me a potion before Tom and Leilah were born, which gave me enough energy to give birth but not survive. When I was almost dead your mother saved me by using the same spell you used to save Tom almost two years ago." She explained.
I stared at her dumbfounded, speechless, as I realized how I had truly come across those books.
Suddenly a lot of things made sense, things began clicking into place.
"You may not understand their reasoning, dear, but your mother is nothing if not a good person. Having to give you up was extremely difficult on her and your father." She said.
"Why are you telling me all of this? Why couldn't they tell me? What's stopping them?If they're such good people then why would they allow all of this to happen to Tom and I?" I asked, as I realized I was ready to head back inside.
"Because I heard— what you told her... and because I know that you're angry with them... I'm sorry to have eavesdropped, but this situation has been hard on all of us, I just wanted you to know." She replied.
"Don't be, they did what they thought would be best for everyone. If they didn't then Minerva wouldn't have been put as the guardian of both you. You're a smart, and caring person, Anna,don't let your judgment be blinded by your anger. Your mother and father have a difficult time dealing with all of this, that alone is the sole reason that they can't confront you head on." She said, turning to look at me before she went back to looking up at the stars.
I shook my head, as I made my way back to the house.
Just as I walked into the room I heard the distinct cry ofa newborn baby.
I didn't think of anything of it until I heard Grisha sigh in relief.
I then rushed up the stairs towards the second floor where I heard the noise coming from, as I opened the door I saw Billy holding a small bundle while Andi and Lucy helped clean the room.
"You can leave. I said I didn't want you in here." Grisha muttered to Lucyafter she drank a blood replenishing potion, along with an energy restorer and a healing potion.
"Meet Cormac Avery." She whispered, smiling towards us happily.
I smiled tired at them, before congratulating them and heading to bed.
There were too many things bouncing within my head, and frankly, I was ready to call it quits for the rest of the day.